Chapter 197: Taking Fire Dragon Pass — The Battlefield's Merit Judgment (6K)

As a formation-base city, Round Moon City had never taken the city's own defenses into consideration from the very start of its construction.

Its defensive standards weren't even as good as Wang Ji's methods in City Ninety-Two.

At least Wang Gong still knew to lay a few anti-teleportation formations beneath the city walls!

But Round Moon City? It didn't.

Stemming from their confidence in Fire Dragon Pass, neither Round Moon City nor the other cities within the pass had any anti-teleportation formations set up.

There were some mechanisms, but these mechanisms weren't for anti-teleportation at all—they were for drawing upon the power of the earth's veins.

Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie had already finished preparing the placement of the firecrackers yesterday.

The only difficulty was being careful during the teleportation.

Because fifth-rank firecrackers were truly flammable and explosive, and Round Moon City was built upon a fire vein—any small mishap while burrowing through and their own people would be done for.

"Move out!"

Chen Shijie gave the order.

A hundred sorcerers and Farmer-Officials who knew teleportation arts each carried large quantities of firecrackers and headed toward Round Moon City.

"Divine Step Guard!"

Zhao Xing pointed a finger, and Jin Guang enveloped a large swath of firecrackers as they sank into the ground.

Then they carried the firecrackers and shuttled through the earth.

Round Moon City was the size of twenty-five soccer fields.

But in reality, the parts that needed to be blown up weren't that many.

Basi Da's City Lord's Manor and the four judicial formations of Round Moon City—blowing those up would be enough.

The most important among them was Basi Da's City Lord's Manor.

Because this was the core of Round Moon City.

The formation nodes distributed at Round Moon City's four corners—if those four nodes were blown up, the southern section of Fire Dragon Pass's great defensive formation would only be severed and could still be repaired in time.

But blowing up the City Lord's Manor would require complete reconstruction, which was what Pang Guangyao had said—taking three or four months to rebuild from scratch.

This part could only be done by Chen Shijie and Zhao Xing.

Why?

Because the others couldn't fully harness the firecrackers' power, and the formations beneath the City Lord's Manor were relatively complex.

When the hundred people burrowed underground to outside the city, Chen Shijie transmitted orders to everyone through the earth's veins.

"All four squads will withdraw together half a shichen later, and detonate after five quarter-hours!"

"Half a shichen later, regardless of whether placement is complete, you must withdraw! Understood?"

"Understood!"

Chen Shijie said, "The operation starts counting from now!"

Hum~

With that, the hundred people scattered toward multiple directions beneath the city.

Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie continued burrowing toward the City Lord's Manor at the center.

They carried the largest quantities.

The paths they had to take were also more complex.

As the core of the formation, the City Lord's Manor pressed down upon the fire vein—if one's strength was lacking, one truly couldn't burrow through.

Two quarter-hours later, Chen Shijie and Zhao Xing stopped.

"We're here. Ahead is the Blazing Dragon Origin Formation."

In the earth's veins ahead, a dragon-shaped flame pulsed—the dragon's head was enormously huge, its massive jaws opened downward.

Countless streams of earth-fire power were drawn into the dragon's head, then transformed through the formation and transported to the small fortresses surrounding Round Moon City.

The small fortresses around Round Moon City functioned as relay stations for the formation base.

Ultimately, they converged at Fire Dragon Pass's main fortress.

That section of the fortress was the weakest part of the Flame Mountain Range, but through the layering of numerous complex formations, it had instead become the strongest pass.

"We split up. I'll start from the Zhen position, you start from… uh, I'll start placing from the southeast, you from the southwest." Zhao Xing was halfway through speaking when he remembered Old Chen didn't know engineering-family formation knowledge, and immediately corrected himself.

"Don't look down on people," Chen Shijie said. "Since coming back last time, I've been cramming the engineering family's basic formation knowledge."

"The Li position is fire, the Dui position is marsh. You having me start placing from the southwest— isn't the principle just that the Li and Dui positions maximize the firecrackers' power?"

"You placing firecrackers from the Zhen position—isn't that wanting to use the firecrackers' power to destroy the Blazing Dragon Origin Formation's疏导 opening, causing the earth-fire to gather and ultimately self-destruct?"

"Impressive!" Zhao Xing gave a thumbs-up.

"What's so impressive—who can't study? It's just a small matter." Chen Shijie said calmly, "While you were farming in East Mulberry City, I wasn't idle either."

Though he said this, seeing Zhao Xing's stunned expression, Chen Shijie felt secretly pleased inside.

Burning the midnight oil for over half a month had finally quietly impressed this kid—it wasn't wasted effort!

Since Old Chen knew, it was even more convenient.

Zhao Xing carefully rolled up the firecrackers, controlling the Octagonal Earth Palace as it drew closer.

He and Chen Shijie each carried a hundred fifth-rank top-grade firecrackers, totaling fourteen hundred sections.

Fifth-rank firecrackers' power was calculated by the section.

One section of a fifth-rank top-grade firecracker had explosive power sufficient to pierce the defense of a fifth-rank battle armor.

If they were somewhere else, to blow away the City Lord's Manor, relying purely on these fourteen hundred sections of firecrackers would still be slightly insufficient.

Because the position they were currently burrowing through was quite deep—at a depth of two hundred meters.

And the City Lord's Manor's foundations were solidly built; wanting to blow it away simply wasn't enough.

But this was Round Moon City, built upon a powder keg to begin with.

To ignite a fifth-tier firecracker, one only needs to light this gunpowder barrel.

A quarter-hour later, Zhao Xing sent a message asking:

"Is it done?"

"Just a little more." Chen Shijie wasn't moving that fast. "Help me check it; see if there are any errors or omissions."

"Good." Zhao Xing finished his own work and immediately came to recheck the firecrackers Chen Shijie had placed.

Another quarter-hour passed. As the agreed-upon withdrawal time approached, Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie cross-checked twice.

Once they confirmed there were no problems, they immediately began to withdraw.

After the two left, only the firecrackers buried underground remained, each wrapped in Jin Guang.

All operational personnel know this maneuver.

This isn't some spell at all; it is merely attaching Yuan Qi to the firecrackers to wrap them.

Anyone at the Eighth Rank, with their control over Yuan Qi, can do this; after waiting three quarter-hours, it will dissipate automatically.

Without the Yuan Qi wrapping, the firecrackers will soon explode in the scorching underground.

A quarter-hour later, Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie arrived first at the underground beneath the city.

The remaining personnel arrived one after another.

Another quarter-hour passed; all one hundred operational personnel had gathered completely, with no one meeting an accident.

"Withdraw!"

Chen Shijie immediately gave the order.

It would detonate in just a quarter-hour; they also had to stay far away, or they would be caught in the blast.

In the City Lord's Mansion, Basda woke up startled from a dream.

The two Fire Demon beauties beside him woke up as well.

"What is it, my lord?"

Basda clutched his head and said, "I just had a nightmare; I dreamt I died."

With the Great Dipper and Earthly Fiends Body Cultivation, Basda, this Sixth-Rank martial artist, had already made his Seven Souls extremely powerful.

The Seven Souls nourish the Life Soul, allowing the Life Soul to frequently converge with the Heavenly Soul and the Earthly Soul, granting some precognitive intuition.

These intuitions are generally related to 'Rebirth' and 'Karma'.

Thus, the higher the rank of a martial artist, the harder it is to be ambushed, because their alertness becomes extremely high.

"How could that be? We are inside the Fire Dragon Pass..."

"Shut up!" Basda irritably pushed the beauty away, quickly put on his clothes, opened the door, and shouted, "Someone!"

"City Lord!" Two guards immediately ran in from outside the door.

"Go find the artificer Hope; I want to go underground to inspect." Basda thought it over and decided to patrol the underground.

"Also, send someone to check the pass walls to see if enemy troops are attacking the city."

"Yes."

Soon, a Fire Demon clansman with a unique appearance walked over; he carried an artificer's box on his back and limped on one leg.

"Respected City Lord Basda, you summoned me?"

"Hope, patrol the underground formation with me," Basda said. "See if there are any problems."

"This..." Hope was stunned; how could Basda suddenly think of such a thing?

Did he discover something?

"What is it?"

"My lord, it's just, just a small matter." Hope's face stiffened.

Basda noticed Hope stammering and immediately shouted, "What is it? Speak quickly!"

Under Basda's interrogation, Hope had no choice but to reveal the truth.

During routine maintenance last month, he had removed several types of protective formations, including the formation that counters teleportation.

He also cut corners, replacing the array-base materials of sixteen formations with inferior ones.

In short, this fellow had embezzled.

Thinking he had been discovered by Basda, he immediately confessed voluntarily.

"You, you scoundrel!" Basda's unease grew even more intense. He grabbed Hope by the throat and said viciously, "Quickly take men down to inspect and repair what needs repairing!"

"You scoundrels! The Earth-Fire Lotus was stolen last month, yet you still dare to be so careless!"

Hope verbally agreed, but in his heart, he did not take it seriously.

The Earth-Fire Lotus was stolen; what does that have to do with my section?

Aren't you also playing around all day long?

Nevertheless, he quickly summoned men, led Basda, and descended through a special passage toward the underground.

Not long after descending, Basda's unease grew even stronger.

But upon reaching the location, this feeling of unease reached its peak!

"Hmm? What is that?"

Upon reaching the underground, Basda immediately saw the faint clusters of Jin Guang floating beside the underground formation.

The people around Hope also looked over.

Upon seeing this, Hope's soul nearly leaped from his body.

"Th-that is..." Hope was too terrified to speak, his hands and feet going weak.

Basda grabbed Hope. "You scoundrel, explain yourself clearly!"

The others, however, screamed:

"Heavens, those are Fifth-Rank firecrackers!"

"So many, and they're about to detonate!"

"Run!"

"What?!"

Bastard turned his head to look.

He saw the first golden light sphere extinguish.

"Bang!"

A powerful explosion instantly blasted the surrounding mountain rocks apart.

"Hiss~" The dragon head that had been swallowing earth-fire instantly blew off a corner.

Immediately after, the second, third, fourth... over a thousand Jin Guang extinguished.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

A scorching light appeared before Bastard's eyes.

Then, his consciousness plunged completely into darkness.

Pang Guangyao stood in the forest, gazing from afar at the Round Moon City in the distance.

He knew very little about the Ministry of Agriculture, nor did he know what this specialty product or the Great Zhou's firecrackers were.

He only knew that Xia Jing had taken one hundred people to Round Moon City, while the main army remained here.

"Is this a bit overconfident?"

"Relying on just one hundred people to take Round Moon City?"

"To prevent news from leaking, shouldn't three thousand people have rushed over together to minimize the chance of information leaking?"

"Is he really Xia Jing?"

Pang Guangyao was full of doubts.

But just then, Xia Jing returned with his people again.

"Your Highness..." Pang Guangyao couldn't help but ask.

"All troops, order to retreat! Retreat!"

Chen Shijie roared!

But at this moment, the earth began to tremble.

"Boom~"

"Boom, boom~"

"Rustle, rustle, rustle~" The trees in the forest shook continuously.

The ground began to shake violently; Pang Guangyao watched as the earth in the distance arched up into a small hill.

"Crack, crack, crack~" Not far away, a crack several kilometers long suddenly appeared.

"What is going on?" Pang Guangyao's heart skipped a beat.

He immediately flew up.

Immediately after, he witnessed a scene he would never forget in his life.

"Boom!"

The Round Moon City in the distance lifted off entirely!

Yes, it lifted off.

It suddenly rose over a hundred meters!

Like a city burning in fire!

The entire city flew a hundred meters into the sky in an instant, and then Pang Guangyao watched helplessly as it disintegrated in an instant, completely vanishing.

It was a complete disappearance; not a single scrap remained!

Only then did a dazzling light erupt from the original position of Round Moon City.

The scorching light even made Pang Guangyao instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes.

The shockwave swept outward in all directions, visible to the naked eye.

A mushroom cloud rose; the earth boiled as if, and the soil on the ground surged outward like waves.

"What?!" Pang Guangyao was terrified, immediately retreating backward while raising his altitude.

"Boom!"

Only when a shockwave swept through the forest.

Did Pang Guangyao finally hear a deafening roar.

"Fizz, fizz, fizz~"

"Boom~"

"Crackle, crackle~"

At this moment, Pang Guangyao saw the forest below swept away by the shockwave.

The shockwave carried flames; in an instant, the forest was ignited.

The sounds of burning, the sounds of explosions, and the sounds of orders mixed together.

Pang Guangyao stood dazed, following Xia Jing in retreat.

The Vanguard Camp had three assembled simple flying boats, each capable of carrying exactly one thousand people.

At this moment, all three flying boats were like candles in the wind, swaying violently in the breeze.

Before they had flown far, they crashed heavily back to the ground.

Fortunately, this distance was far enough, and the power of the shockwave had weakened significantly.

The flying boat did not disintegrate.

Pang Guangyao flew to Xia Jing's side and shouted loudly, "Young Master, what exactly happened!"

"Round Moon City, how, how is it gone?"

Zhao Xing looked at the vanished Round Moon City in the distance; although his heart had been in a panic just moments ago, he now spoke calmly, "As you see, naturally we blew it up."

"Blown up?" Pang Guangyao could not comprehend Zhao Xing's words at all.

How could a mechanical city covering one hundred thousand mu be blown up?

Chen Shijie looked ahead, still trembling with fear.

"Damn it, we must test the usage of firecrackers in different regions more often in the future; this batch was too large."

The effect of this batch of firecrackers was extraordinarily good!

First, the firecrackers Zhao Xing cultivated were all fifth-grade; their overall tier was also superior to what Chen Shijie had used before, mostly fifth-grade high-grade and supreme-grade firecrackers, with a small portion being middle-lower grade.

Second, Round Moon City sat upon a fire vein and was itself absorbing the power of underground fire.

Third, because Hop and others had cut corners, the firecrackers' power was not blocked by the city's own defensive array and was fully unleashed.

Assuming the enemy was stronger than they were, when Chen Shijie and Zhao Xing formulated the plan, they had overestimated the strength of this Round Moon City.

So they prepared a huge quantity of firecrackers.

Combining these various factors resulted in the effect seen now.

Round Moon City, along with the dozens of fortresses surrounding it, vanished completely in this wave of explosions.

Let alone people, even the stones melted.

Had they not run quickly and sensed something was wrong, their own people would likely have perished in this explosion.

"Yes, we must make fewer of them in the future," Zhao Xing echoed.

This incident directly cured both of them of their fear of insufficient firepower.

In the future, we must allocate them in fixed quantities.

"Young Master, who, who exactly are you?" Pang Guangyao could not help but ask; at this moment, looking at Zhao Xing, he felt as though he were looking at a devil.

With a flip of his hand, an entire Round Moon City vanished, causing even Pang Guangyao to feel fear.

What kind of person had he actually followed?

"Since matters have come to this, this official has no need to hide it from you anymore," Zhao Xing clapped his hands and stood up. "Standing before you is Zhao Xing, Captain of the Ninth Section of the Divine Might Army of the Great Zhou, under the command of Commandant Liao Ru Long of the Ninth Column of the Divine Might Army."

"Divine Might Army?" Pang Guangyao was stunned; he had indeed gotten on the wrong carriage!

"However, there is one thing this official did not lie to you about: Xia Jing and I do indeed have a connection; he is my life-and-death friend. We trained together in the Ten Yang Grotto-Heaven, and this time our two armies fought side by side."

"What I promised you is equivalent to what Xia Jing promised you. The minotaur who delivered the message to you, was his name Ye Chongxian?"

Pang Guangyao nodded.

He indeed knew Ye Chongxian's real name.

"Then that settles it." Zhao Xing looked at the Lei Guang in the gale layer at the horizon, revealing a slight smile. He walked over and patted Pang Guangyao's shoulder. "General Pang, the main army will soon breach the pass. Whether you can solidify the title of Great Zhou General depends on yourself."

On September 16, the main forces of the Divine Might Army, the Black Armor Army, and the Sea-Subduing Army approached the Fire Dragon Pass.

They had thought these Great Zhou armies had come to die, but just then, a thunderous explosion that shook heaven and earth suddenly erupted from the southern section of the Fire Dragon Pass.

The arrays suddenly all failed for four double-hours!

Liao Ru Long's unit, piloting the Dragon-Head Tower Ship, directly smashed through the pass, and five thousand men ascended the thousand-meter-high Fire Dragon Pass.

The defending general, Yue Haisheng, hurriedly mounted the city wall to supervise the battle, leading ten thousand barbarian soldiers in an attempt to extinguish the enemy, and ordered men to urgently repair the arrays inside and outside the pass.

The two sides fought fiercely for less than two quarter-hours.

Immediately after, the arrays of the northern mountain pass and the pass section failed one after another.

The effectiveness of the entire pass-defense great array dropped to its lowest level in nearly two hundred years.

Over a hundred warships of the Sea-Subduing Army advanced to the top of the Fire Dragon Pass without any obstruction.

General Ming Yan warships, Three-Leaf warships, Dragon-Head Tower Ships...

God-Slaying Crossbows, Spirit-Breaking Crossbow Carts, Soul-Returning Shield Carts, Heavy-Water Trebuchets, Sky-Net Throwing Arrays... The peak craftsmanship of the Great Zhou densely bombarded the pass-defense great array.

The barrier grew dim and colorless; in a mere instant, it completely destroyed the effectiveness of the Fire Dragon Pass's defense array.

Wen Shaoyang's unit of the Great Halberdiers, and the Black Armor Army's Dragon Cavalry, followed closely behind Liao Ru Long's unit, ascending the pass one after another.

Seeing the situation was hopeless, Yue Haisheng led the remnants to flee the Fire Dragon Pass, and the Fire Dragon Pass, stretching nearly forty li, now flew the banners of the Great Zhou.

Due to the disparity in numbers and martial power, in just a single afternoon, this mighty pass that had stood for over a thousand years was declared broken.

September 16 and 17; these two days were entirely a time for the Great Zhou's three armies to harvest battle merits.

After the mighty pass fell, the Fire Demon Tribe's garrison became walking battle merits.

Whether in numbers or strength, they were utterly no match for the Great Zhou armies.

"Pfft~"

A purple finger pierced through the head of a seventh-grade barbarian general, and lightning burned his entire body to a crisp.

"Thud~" This seventh-grade barbarian general, along with the long spear he held, immediately fell to the ground.

"Hah! Hah!"

On the ground, a formation holding three-meter-long great halberds moved rapidly below.

When a corpse fell from two hundred meters high, upon reaching one hundred meters, it was suddenly torn apart by a thousand-meter-long blood-red great halberd in the air, turning into powder.

"It is Lin Ze, a Captain under Wen Shaoyang."

"The Great Halberdiers unit, all eighth-grade martial artists, the Blood-Qi Battle Formation, great halberds like a forest," Zhao Xing, having just finished chasing down a barbarian warrior, saw the Great Halberdiers unit below.

One hundred meters above the Great Halberdiers formation, besides a single blood-red great halberd, another two hundred meters higher floated the phantom of a military banner.

"The War-Soul Military Banner of the Divine Might Army." Zhao Xing looked at that military banner. "This War-Soul Military Banner is similar to my Solar Term Token."

"However, my Solar Term Token replaces the heavenly and earthly solar terms, while this War-Soul Military Banner has formed a War-Soul Domain."

"Under the coverage of this army banner, every warrior's willpower and life soul have been greatly enhanced."

"Willpower enhanced, life soul enhanced, and their combat power rises accordingly, staying at peak condition at all times."

"However, the real boost comes from the battle formation below."

Zhao Xing took a careful look at the halberdier square formation led by Lin Ze.

This blood-colored halberd was entirely condensed from qi and blood.

It was as if invisible pillars of light connected the thousand Eighth-Rank halberdiers below.

The largest blood-colored pillar of light enveloped Lin Ze himself.

"Once the halberdiers' qi-and-blood battle formation takes shape, Lin Ze, this Captain of official Seventh Rank Upper, possesses the combat power of official Sixth Rank."

"Furthermore, Lin Ze doesn't need to relay orders through other means—his battle intent is transmitted instantly into the minds of the thousand halberdiers."

"One thousand one hundred men, as one!"

"Any soldier wounded can recover through the blood-colored halberd, because the injuries are shared evenly."

"Vital energy recovery works the same way—the blood-colored halberd continuously draws in the surrounding world's vital energy, even the vital energy of life." Zhao Xing felt his qi and blood surging, a pulling force coming from below, and couldn't help but raise his altitude a little.

"Lin Ze's halberdier battalion has already trained to the level of a Fifth-Grade battle formation; the blood-colored halberd can break through ten thousand laws."

"Suppose I encountered this kind of battle formation—apart from the Soaring Serpent Transformation, this high-grade technique that has reached Six Revolutions, which can affect him, no other high-grade technique could possibly grievously wound him, and I'd still be struck in the spirit by the martial intent of his thousand men."

"This kind of battle formation trained to Fifth Grade greatly counters Mage teams." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

At this moment, the halberdier battalion's square formation was pursuing a group of Fire Demon race mages.

Occasionally a squad of mages would try to strike back with spells.

But any spell that entered the coverage range of the Battle Soul Army Banner was first weakened by thirty percent.

Immediately after, it had to be weakened another seventy percent by the 'blood-colored halberd' in the sky.

By the time it fell into the halberdier square formation, it was utterly painless.

Because this was the most elite halberdier battalion under Wen Shaoyang's command—a Fifth-Grade blood-qi battle formation required long tempering to achieve, with soldiers as one; the cultivation methods and martial techniques they practiced had to be completely identical to reach this effect.

Zhao Xing hadn't seen such an elite halberdier battalion in a long time.

"Zhao Xing, what are you spacing out for!" A familiar voice rang out. Zhao Xing turned his head—it was Xia Jing, riding a flying dragon.

His Black Armor Dragon Cavalry Battalion was also chasing and killing fleeing enemies.

"Why aren't you racking up battle merits at a time like this? What are you waiting for?" Xia Jing said. "Hurry up and chop heads. Right now all three armies have activated the Judicial Yin God Patrol, and there are also Mirage Bead recordings."

"Heads chopped off at this time won't have a single one missed or wrong."

"Got it!" Zhao Xing smiled, then immediately rode the clouds in pursuit toward one direction.

On the nineteenth of September, after the fall of Fire Dragon Pass, the pursuit of the barbarian soldiers came to an end.

There were only a few tens of thousands of them to begin with—not enough for everyone on the Great Zhou side to kill.

Zhao Xing also took part in this kind of battle-merit hunting, but there was an unwritten rule in the army: at such times, high-ranking generals would not compete for merit with low-ranking soldiers.

In this kind of free pursuit battle, a pure period for racking up merit—Zhao Xing was Seventh Rank, so he had to go kill Seventh-Rank enemies, unless he was surrounded by a group of Eighth-Rank ones and had no choice.

Otherwise, if all the merit went to high-ranking generals and the men below got none at all, that would be far too unfair.

The evening of the twentieth of September.

The Battle of Fire Dragon Pass came to an end, and the news spread, shocking the entire Pacify-the-Barbarians War Zone.

No one had expected that the Eastern Front, long considered the least likely to achieve any breakthrough, had achieved such a great result.

Fire Dragon Pass, which had stood for a thousand years without falling, had actually been taken down by the Divine Might Army.

The news spread like wind, swiftly sweeping across the entire war zone.

The impact it caused began to ferment in different places—not only in Great Zhou but also in the Jin Yu Wang Ting…

And at this moment, Zhao Xing, Xia Jing, Wen Shaoyang, Liao Rulong, Chen Shijie, Long Xiao, and others had gathered in a castle at Fire Dragon Pass.

Because the Soldier Realm's battle-merit judgment had arrived.

This chapter is 6.6K; for the rest of this month, updates will basically stay above ten thousand characters.

We'll see at month's end how many words of owed updates have been repaid!